Page 111 of Broken Pieces

Chapter Forty-Two

Brooks

Everything hurts.

My head.

My throat.

My chest.

My hand.

I can hear the beeping of a hospital monitor. I groan as I blink my eyes awake. The lights are out in the room. As I turn toward the lone window, a small amount of moonlight shines in.

I adjust to the light of the monitors and the glow of the TV in the background. My head feels like it’s been hit by a Mack truck. My throat is so dry it’s like I’ve been walking in the desert. My chest feels like a three-hundred-pound man is sitting on it. And my hand feels like the bones are being crushed. I try to think back to anything I could have done to my hand, but I draw a blank. Which isn’t surprising considering I was shot.

I look down to the best of my ability and see a pile of honey hair near my hip bone, snoring softly. Her body slumped over the bed as she sits awkwardly in a chair. Her hand is wrapped around mine, squeezing the life out of it. No wonder it felt that way.

I feel weak as hell, but I try with everything I have to squeeze her hand back. She doesn’t move, so I slowly pull my hand out of hers and lay it on her head.

She moans softly from the contact before she lifts her head and turns toward me. “You’re awake! For how long?”

She scrambles up to my side, sitting on the edge of the bed, taking my hand in hers.

“Just a few minutes,” I rasp out.

“I was so worried about you.” She takes my hand and presses it into her cheek before she jumps up off the bed. “I need to go grab the doctor.”

“Wait,” I whisper.

She looks at me, her emerald eyes brimming with tears. I pull her back to the bed and pull her as close to my chest as I can bear. “I’m sorry, Rae. I never meant to hurt you.”

She cranes her neck up to meet my stare. “I know.”

I bring my other hand up to her face. “I love you, Raelynn. More than anything in this world or out of this world. You stumbled into my broken life and picked all the pieces off the floor. And I know I was an asshole. I should have told you I was responsible for selling those drugs that ended up in Hardy’s hands. But I was afraid I would lose you. And I can’t lose you. You mean more to me than I could ever put into words. You’re my lifeline. The eye of my storm. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you.”

I start coughing and she hands me a cup of water from the table. Her hand following my movement as she cups my face. “I know. I’ve thought a lot about it over the two weeks you were in jail. But it wasn’t your fault, Brooks. You didn’t rape me, Derrick did. And I can’t blame you for it. You didn’t know what he was going to do with them. Just like you taught me, I can’t blame myself for Tyler’s suicide.” Tears start to pour down her cheeks and I use my thumbs to wipe them away.

“I thought my heart was shattered when I found out the truth that night,” she continues. “But I realized the love I have for you was greater than that truth. I struggled for two weeks not to visit you in jail. I needed to be sure what I felt was real. And it is, Brooks. I love you. And I can’t lose you. When you got shot, I thought that was it. You were the last person I would ever let into my heart because I lost you too. But you lived. And it was then I realized you would still be the last person I let into my heart. You took all my broken pieces and put me back together Brooks. I can’t thank you enough for that. But I will spend every day of my life showing you how much it means to me, how much I love you.”

I grab her and pull her down to my lips. I whisper I love you over and over again between the stolen kisses we let ourselves have. “I want you with me every day, forever, Rae, my Blue. We are what holds us together and I have never been more grateful than the day that you walked into my life.”

She presses her lips to mine and mumbles against them, “I’m pretty sure you were the one that walked in on my life, that day you came into the diner.”

I wrap my arms around her nape, my teeth tugging on her lip before I say, “I am so happy I agreed to run that errand for Summer.”

“I’m sure we would have crossed paths eventually.”

“Fate,” I say as I kiss her deeply.

It doesn’t last long before she pulls away. “I need to go find the doctor. And I am sure your family wants to see you.”

“Where are they?”

She smiles at me as she opens the door. “In the waiting room. They all thought it should be me here when you woke up.”

She walks out the door and I can’t help but smile. Out of all the mistakes I’ve made, all the wrong paths I’ve chosen, she is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

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